At the Make Amazon Pay Summit, unions and allies announced strikes and protests against Amazon on Black Friday

This announcement comes after Amazon announced its quarterly results yesterday, Thursday, October 26. Amazon’s profits nearly tripled with sales reaching $143.1 billion.

Christy Hoffman, Secretary General of UNI Global and co-host of the Make Amazon Pay Summit, said: “It is important that this community of unions, political leaders, and NGOs come together to strategize how we use our collective power to end Amazon’s brutality against workers and its impact on our communities. Amazon’s business model is destroying the environment and crushing small businesses, leaving the monopoly without ethics and accountability.” “This is the defining battle of our time, and together we can use our power to make Amazon pay.”

Global Make Amazon Pay Black Friday is set to be the biggest ever. Last year, the coalition organized more than 135 strikes and protests in 35 countries on Black Friday. This year, Amazon will face more turmoil as workers go out of work, activists protest AWS’s environmentally destructive practices, citizens demand the company pay its taxes, and small businesses and independent booksellers denounce the giant’s anti-competitive behavior. .

Amazon faces the biggest challenge in the company’s history regarding its grievances. In country after country, workers are coming together to demand better wages and working conditions, as well as recognition of their unions. In cities, states, and countries, regulators and lawmakers are taking action to make Amazon pay for the damage to workers, our communities, and the planet.

Last year, warehouse workers in the UK went on strike. In Germany, there were strikes in locations across the country on Prime Day. In the US, Amazon delivery drivers formed the first-ever driver union and picketed for better wages, safer jobs and union recognition. Meanwhile, the Writers Guild of America won an important victory against Amazon and other film and TV studios by banning the use of technology to worsen working conditions in once-respectable jobs. Outside New Delhi, India, a mass protest by hundreds of warehouse workers forced Amazon to make major concessions. In Bangladesh, garment workers rose up with their allies around the world to demand that Amazon sign the international agreement to protect their safety. Workers at the tech headquarters in Seattle also went on strike to protest Amazon’s attempts at greenwashing.

And in Barcelona, ​​the progressive city administration imposed a tax on Amazon’s use of “free” public space for last-mile deliveries. The Minnesota Senate passed the strongest law to protect Amazon warehouse workers in the United States. The Irish Senate passed a law prohibiting Amazon from disposing of new and unused products. Antitrust investigations into Amazon are underway in both the United States and Europe, which may put an end to Amazon’s monopolistic practices.

The Make Amazon Pay campaign, co-launched by UNI and Progressive International, brings together more than 80 organizations involved in labour, tax, climate, data and racial justice, as well as more than 400 parliamentarians and tens of thousands of supporters from around the world. . Since 2020, the campaign has organized four Global Days of Action – each time expanding the global movement to stop Amazon putting pressure on workers, communities and the planet.

Speaking at the summit to make Amazon pay, US Senator Bernie Sanders said:

“No company is a better example of the corporate greed and arrogance we see in the US, UK and around the world than Amazon.

“This is a company worth over $1.3 trillion, not $1 billion, not $1 million. $1.3 trillion. This is a company that made over $12 billion in profits last year. This is a company that spent over $6 billion last year not improving people’s lives.” . its workers or make its warehouses safer, but to buy back shares to make wealthy shareholders richer. This is the company that spent more than $14 million on anti-union consultants and lawyers to prevent Amazon workers from joining a union or signing their first contract.